Tag: GW England

By rlubitz

British kids are proud of their music and they should be. Their music revolutions turn into our music revolutions from pop to goth to punk and a little bit of soul. Then of course there are The Beatles, four boys who made this country and are always hanging around London in advertisement and art.

Before I came to London I was terribly concerned with being cool. I’m giving up now and embracing my full on lameness. There is just no competing. The kids here play David Bowie at parties and Radiohead when they get home. In America we play vain songs from vainer artists. Walk through my freshman dorm and you can hear The Libertines, Florence and the Machine and Mumford & Sons who are every British kid’s patron saints since the release of their newest album.

I can’t pick a song that I love here because there are just too many. So here are a few of my favorites old and new. ...continue reading "British Beats"

By rlubitz

I’ve never lived in a place like London and frankly never really thought I ever would. But now that I am, now that I’ve gotten to roam these streets and never gotten tired of them, I can’t think of living anywhere else. It’s a tough city where people are incredibly polite but not necessarily warm. That’s excluding very old English men because they are actually the best people that inhabit this earth. It’s been an adjustment but a fast one.

That being said, on my many walks around the city to nowhere in particular, I’ve run across a fair amount of amazing street art. Graffiti, I feel, lowers this art to mere illegal acts by people who are running from the law with bandanas around their mouths, etc. The art I’ve seen is fantastic.

...continue reading "Art I Like So Far"

By rlubitz

Being that everything in London is roughly five more dollars than it is in America, I’ve resorted to eating non-meals. Meals don’t really happen very much unless you count pub food. Which, while we’re talking about pub food, steak and ale pies are like sent from heaven I don’t think you really even understand.

You see a lot of people walking around with a croissant or a sandwich or a burger. There are fast food restaurants around but basically just McDonalds, Burger King and KFC exist which usually elicits photographs from tourists. How many pictures have been caught in the background of with a bag of McDonalds in my shaky hands?

Seven.

Just kidding, I have no idea. Probably definitely more than that.

But anyways, there’s a way to exist in this city on not very much at all and it’s to eat little stuff. Following this blog post I am going to publish a diet book entitled, “Just Eat Little Stuff” and it will sell millions and I will be able to actually maybe come back to London and big stuff. Follow the knowledge below and maybe you can save money and eventually eat big stuff.

My Top Five Cheap Eats:

...continue reading "Cheap Eats Because I Am Poor"

By rlubitz

Alas! I am here in London after boring everyone for three weeks writing about vanities like watching TV on your computer sans pants and panicking about leaving Taco Bell.

Leaving the country for three months didn’t really hit me until my friends started sobbing at Whole Foods. It’s organic! But also humiliating

But I am here and they didn’t remove me from their country (so far) and I finally feel like a real adult person. Getting here was tough, harder than I thought it was because I had what I think was the most talkative airplane seatmate. Was he the air marshal? Probably. Actually…yes. Most definitely.

...continue reading "Jetlag: How To Wake Up In A Room And Have No Idea Where You Are"

By rlubitz

I knew it was gonna happen but I just didn’t think it was going to happen to me. Because I am a stressmonster and have a habit of freaking out for hours at a time, I thought by now I’d be all set, just waiting for the plane to get here, just waiting for the time that I have to actually physically leave Washington, DC. Instead, it’s one day before I leave for London and I’m still configuring bags and giving clothes away and realizing that I’m definitely not going to be wearing three different black sweaterdresses while I’m there because I’m lazy and I never wear dresses.

In these hectic days, I’ve had to rely on humor to not shut my entire world down. For instance, I created a Saturday Night Live skit yesterday while I was lugging my bags across town and it’s called “Rachel Throws A Bag Bigger Than Herself Down Three Flights Of Stairs.” It’s hilarious.

...continue reading "I’m Overpacking and I Know It"

By rlubitz

Will everything even work?

Starting about two days ago, I realized that “oh, all of my technology can’t work in the UK” and thus ensued a mini panic attack because I prepare for nothing until the last minute. I know everything will be fine and I’ll be able to plug in with an adapter and I know they’re like $10 but that doesn’t stop me from imagining my laptop bursting into flames.

Just a few weeks ago my mom sent me an adapter contraption from the 1970s. Last time she used it was legitimately thirty years ago. If I had, indeed, plugged my phone in using those adapters, it would have burst into flames and my face would have been scalded off as a result of those flames and then I wouldn’t have been in any of my friend’s STUDY ABROAD YOLO 2012 Facebook albums because I would have looked like Darth Vader sans helmet.

Do you see how my mind advances on things like this?

But I WILL be getting an adapter this week and calling 19 different people while I’m in the store because that’s just how I work.

As a Gen Y-er, I expect a full meltdown for myself while trying to set up wifi that won’t work when I get there or forgetting to pack a charger.

Will people hate me because I like Coldplay?

...continue reading "In Which I Freak Out About Technology and Taco Bell A Week Before Arrival"

By rlubitz

I haven’t even stepped on the plane for London yet. In fact, I’m exactly two weeks from leaving but I still wake up every night thinking that I should have gotten a visa even though a student visa is only necessary, that my computer isn’t going to work there because my adapter is going to spontaneously combust and most of all, they’re just not going to let me into their country because I’m gonna be a hot, nervous mess upon arrival. I know none of that is true but really though, I have anxiety about everything.

...continue reading "I Have Anxiety about Everything: The Study Abroad Edition"